Pittsburgh to Allow Online Appeals of Parking Tickets

For some, fighting a parking ticket in downtown Pittsburgh is almost not worth the hassle. It requires a trip downtown to the Pittsburgh Parking Court where a district judge decides your fate.

But that's about to change.

Starting Oct. 1, the Pittsburgh Parking Authority will unveil a website that will allow drivers to contest their tickets online, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports. 

Parking Authority Executive Director David Onorato said his office has received numerous complaints about the hassles of coming downtown, not to mention the expense for someone who lives out of state.

"They thought it was an inconvenience to come downtown," he told the PG. "We decided they were right."

Those who want to fight their tickets will fill out a form online explaining why they think they were unfairly cited. They will also be able to attach photos to make their case, the paper reports.

A district judge will review the online submissions and issue a judgement which will be emailed, and sent via regular mail, within three to four weeks.

Onorato tells the PG there's been an increase in the number of people contesting tickets since the authority starting using new parking kiosks last year to replace the meters for individual spaces. Drivers using the kiosk must enter their license plate number, but if the number was incorrectly entered, they got a ticket.